He smiled gently. “It will be all right, Ruby. I’ll be right by your side, no matter who comes. I won’t let them tear apart your family.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, feeling the frustration of her situation and regret. If not for her promise to her uncle, she might have taken that second kiss, and then perhaps a third, too, with no thought to the consequences.
Hector stepped aside.
Ruby immediately went to check her son, hiding her flaming cheeks. Pip could amuse himself while she was away for a little while greeting the newcomers. She had to know who was arriving. She needed to see who her uncle had chosen for her to wed—if that is who it was approaching.
Hector’s footsteps sounded behind her. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, I’ll just need my scarf.” When she had it, she turned back to find Lord Stockwick helping her boy into his coat. “What are you doing?”
“Taking him with us.”
“That’s not a good idea.” Pip was supposed to stay out of sight. “Lord Vyne might not like it.”
“To hell with what he wants. If that’s who you fear it might be, I’m not letting your boy out of our sight. Come on. There’s no time like the present to confront your would-be oppressors,” he announced.
“Oh,” she said, chasing after him and Pip as they reached the door. “I hadn’t wanted to put him in the middle of any argument.”
Hector paused as he considered her words. “Then I will ask my valet to watch over him while we are gone. I’m sure he’d be only too happy to play with a few toys instead of pressing my cravats.”
“That’s very kind of you but not necessary,” she promised.
“It is entirely prudent. You’ll only worry otherwise.” He jerked his head toward the door. “Come along, young Pip. I want you to meet my valet.”
Her boy ran to Hector, a tiny toy horse clutched to his chest. Pip tugged on Hector’s hand to make him look down. “Do you have a real horse?”
“Indeed I do. His name is Scout, but I’m afraid I had to leave him in London in his warm stable.”
“My papa had a gray horse to pull his wagon.”
“A wagon, you say,” Hector repeated, and then smiled.
Ruby looked away. She hadn’t married a wealthy man, and by the time of his death, they’d lived a much simpler life than she’d ever imagined living. But Pip didn’t know he should hide their lack of wealth and importance yet. She was grateful that Hector had accepted her tale and not chided her for following her heart, like her family had done.
Hector and Pip went down along the halls together, talking of horses and carriages. They stopped at a far door, and Hector spoke briefly to a man inside. The valet appeared and agreed to return Pip to the upstairs parlor to play.
She winced. “I won’t be very long. Pip shouldn’t need anything but watching.”
“If it’s all right with you, I’ll ask for cake and milk to be sent up for the boy. Boys are always hungry. Take your time.”
Hector took her arm. “Let’s get us downstairs quickly. Dear God, The Vynes has always been a damn drafty place, and it seems worse this year.”
“So you come here every year?”
“No. But I was here last year, and again a few years before that.”
“I haven’t been here since…
“Not since you lost your silver bell, I suppose. I wonder if we could find it this year.”
She sighed.
“I do regret I tormented you as a boy. Moving the bell about the room when your back was turned wasn’t very nice of me.”
“You were sometimes very annoying,” she murmured.
He shook his head. “I probably wanted to make you notice me, chase me so that I could steal a second kiss.”
She shook her head. “A scoundrel at just twelve years of age.”
“Hmm, I probably was—and still am, depending on who you talk to,” he admitted.
When she looked at Hector now, she saw a glimpse of that young boy but not much of the scoundrel he claimed to be. “But who else but you could have taken it from me?”
“I don’t know. The last time I saw it, it was as I said then—beside your cot in the nursery, right before we all trooped downstairs to see our parents. The nursery was thoroughly searched for it the next day. The housekeeper made us all line up outside in our nightclothes. The servants quarters were thoroughly checked, too, I suspect.”
“I asked the housekeeper when I arrived if it has ever been found, and she said not.”
“I fear it is lost for good then, or it was taken by someone rather devious.” He stopped her. “Have you been holding a grudge against me all this time?”
She blushed. “It was important to me. A keepsake from my paternal grandfather.”
“I knew that then, too.” He nodded and started moving again. “We could have been looking for it about the house these past few days. Put the matter to rest once and for all, eh?”
“I couldn’t have troubled you,” she said quickly.
“Nonsense. You know, I think I will be staying for Christmas after all. A scavenger hunt will be just the thing to keep us all warm.”
“I can’t ask you to change your plans for me.”
He smiled quickly. “I wouldn’t have changed my plans if I hadn’t wanted to. Besides, I think Pip could do with the diversion of my company, and you, too.”
“You might be right.” Ruby blushed a little at Hector’s kindness. He was staying for her, to protect her and Pip so they could stay together. If she had to marry anyone, Ruby wished it could be someone as gallant as him.
She had done a little snooping already for her lost item, but it might be a great help to have another set of hands to move a piece of furniture quietly, and Hector did seem quite strong. More muscular than her, at least, and taller. There were several high places quite beyond her reach in the library. “Lord Vyne might not like us poking about the house without his permission.”
“Then I guess we’d better make sure he doesn’t find out,” Hector whispered.
They reached the front hall and heard the voices of men. Ruby hung back when Hector suddenly started to tiptoe to the library door, making no sound. He carefully peeked around the doorframe to look into the library—and then jerked back, shuffling a few yards in her direction. “Bloody hell,” he muttered softly as he caught her elbow.
“What is it?”
“Samuel Blackwood is here.”
“Who?” she whispered.
Hector ran a hand over his mouth and muttered, “A man you don’t want ever to cross.”
Judging by Hector’s furtive behavior, he had.
And he was afraid of the man, too. Was he dangerous as well? Ruby wasn’t keen to meet anyone who could make a grown man shrink in fear.
Ruby pulled at Hector by his sleeve, drawing him away from the library door and into the doorway of an empty reception room. “Go back upstairs. Quickly.”
Hector shook his head. “There’s no use delaying the meeting. He’ll find out I’m here easily enough. Vyne will mention my name, of course.”
That didn’t sound good for Hector’s sake. “What are you going to do?”